The Official 2024-2025 NHL Season: Let’s Get It Started, in Here

[Grand Moff Larkin]

I'll be honest: the Wings getting Ottawa on the ninth game of a road trip is a best-case scenario.

No doubt! I think that's a likely L (although, also no offense tho I'm sure you "get it", it's probably one of the two most winnable games on the trip). Hopefully they can manage to keep the whole thing from being a disaster. I think 3-5-1 or 3-4-2 would actually be a pretty good result (sadly)

I also agree Calgary's not a pushover I'm just comparing it to the rest of the games!

Certainly no offense, the Wings are the seventh worst team in the league right now and they shit themselves more often than they show up (like they did against Toronto).

[nick]

WPG: Maybe OT loss? Similar styles, will depend on goaltending. They outplayed them last year and lost in OT based on this exact reason.

My guess is that this is a 5-1 type blowout for either team, where either Hellebuyck or Ullmark are great and the other has the D just be awful in front of them

[practice]

pretty strange decision looking back at the league sending Buffalo to Europe to showcase the product

[nick]

Man Buffalo

[Grand Moff Larkin]

After Pegula had a meeting with the team, too

[sutterfamily]

Rehiring Lindy Ruff as the permanent coach was a weird ass move.

What's actually the mindblowingest part to me is they are on an 11 game losing streak (I think 3 loser points?) and are still only 8 points out of the last WC slot.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

I get that they wanted an experienced coach and made sense in terms of having familiarity with the franchise, but I don't think Adams made the right roster moves for Ruff to get the team to move forward.

[sutterfamily]

I feeeeeeel like it was more of a "hey this guy was our coach when we were good" and more about the nostalgia than choosing the right coach. If they didn't plan to make roster moves to suit Ruff's style then why hire Ruff?

[sutterfamily]

Any hey Linus Ullmark got another shutout last night. Save PCT up to .915

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Kraken acquired forward Kaapo Kakko from the New York Rangers in exchange for defenseman Will Borgen, a 3rd round pick and a 6th round pick in the 2025 #NHLDraft.


I would’ve done it for that price.

[Alexei Ca$hin]

Rags didn't get much back. I'd take a flyer on Kakko at that price too.

[Alexei Ca$hin]

Alexandre Carrier for Justin Barron is a strange deal too. Both teams just looking for different type of players? Doesn't move the needle for either team.

[Cacophony]

Kakko is a bust.

I fucking hate the panthers

[Cacophony]

Boldy simply loves to take penalties

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Stats for the Ontario fans

2. Linus Ullmark’s bounce-back

After a rough start, it’s great to see Linus Ullmark return to form for Ottawa. He looks exactly like the player fans thought they were getting from Boston: a Vezina-caliber starter. Over the last few weeks, Ullmark has posted eight straight starts in which he’s saved more goals than expected. During that stretch, Ullmark has a .955 save percentage and has saved 13.5 goals above expected, tops in the league. Prior to that, Ullmark was fifth-last in goals saved.

Unsurprisingly, the Senators are 7-0-1 in Ullmark’s starts during this stretch and are back in the thick of the East’s playoff race. Ottawa’s playoff chances have climbed from 20 percent to 55 percent during that time.

3. Maple Leafs end five-forward power play experiment

Thanks to a sputtering power play to start the season, the Leafs got creative with a five-forward setup featuring Matthews, Marner, William Nylander, John Tavares and Matthew Knies. It made some sense on paper, with every player in a seemingly natural spot (including Marner up top), but in practice, it just didn’t work.

The quintet spent just 17:22 together this season and maybe could’ve ironed out the kinks with a bit more time. But compared to the team’s usual setup, the 5F power play generated fewer chances (7.1 xGF/60 compared to 10.7) and allowed an exorbitantly high amount of chances and goals against. The risk far outweighed the reward.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Alexandre Carrier for Justin Barron is a strange deal too. Both teams just looking for different type of players? Doesn't move the needle for either team.

It makes sense to me in that 1. the Canadiens had too many real young D outside of Matheson 2. the Canadiens had too many LHD vs. RHD 3. the Shreds' season is done and they clearly need to get younger. It doesn't change either team's fate, of course.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

Kakko is a bust.

I fucking hate the panthers

He is a bust in terms of his draft position, but if I had to choose between him (a big, defensively sound 40 point winger who's great along the boards) or Tyler Motte, I'm choosing Kakko.

[Grand Moff Larkin]

8. Carolina’s third pair struggling

Early on in the season, one of the reasons Carolina was dominating opponents was its new third pair. Yes, they were playing easy minutes, but their results in those minutes were eye-popping enough not to matter. In their first 10 games together, Shayne Gostisbehere and Sean Walker had a 78 percent xG rate, outscoring opponents 6-2 in the process.

Their work since, though, has been much weaker and it’s part of the reason Carolina has struggled of late. Since the hot start, the pair’s xG rate has regressed to 52 percent, a rather modest rate for a very sheltered third pair. They’ve also been outscored 17-10. Some of that is bad luck, obviously, but given each player’s reputation for weaker defense, it’s not a huge surprise to see goals being scored against them in bunches.

The pair is still controlling play and should turn it around, but given the aforementioned defensive weaknesses as well as their smaller statures, it’ll be interesting how the duo performs in a playoff setting. Can that third pair handle the heat?

You're telling me that Gostisbehere isn't great defensively, even in sheltered minutes? I'll be damned

[practice]

I love to see trades happen all the time

[Alexei Ca$hin]

Don't look now... 5 straight for les SNES.